MONROVIA, Montserrado – The Liberia Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Authority has disclosed that close to US$1 million of equipment were destroyed during the fire that gutted the laboratory and warehouse of the National Drug Service on May 30.

The NDS warehouse, located in the compound of the John F. Kennedy Medical Center in Sinkor, was one of six warehouses. The LMHPRA laboratory was also hosted at the site and was the only one of its kind for testing the quality of drugs entering the country.

According to David Sumo, the director of the regulatory body, the LMHPRA is concluding their calculations on the total inventory of equipment that were destroyed.

Though he did not provide a full listing of equipment destroyed in the fire but named a device used for high-performance liquid chromatography, a UV spectrum meter, among others. The equipment were used to analyze and determine the different types of medications.

“They were delicate drug testing equipment,” he said.

The HPLC equipment is a machine used to test the quality of drugs, look for the percentage of active pharmaceutical ingredients and identify harmful substances.

David Sumo, director of the Liberia Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Authority. Photo: Zeze Ballah

Sumo said it took the government more than eight years to get the laboratory to a Level 2 status.

He said the regulatory authority was in the process of applying for certification from the International Standard Organization for the lab when fire gutted the facility.

The burned National Drug Service Building that once hosted the LMHPRA laboratory. Photo: Zeze Ballah

“The certification of the LMHPRA laboratory by the International Standard Organization [would have] meant that Liberia could conduct any test and results [would be] accepted globally in terms of the values,” Sumo added.

He said the fire has taken the country and LMHPRA miles back.

“The incident is a serious setback for the entity,” he said.

Even as the LMHPRA estimates the value of lab equipment damaged, the National Drug Service has not yet released the monetary value of the materials in the laboratory that were destroyed by the fire outbreak.

Featured photo by Zeze Ballah